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SA Health has advised staff they should use N95 face masks — considered the most protective — for only the most serious coronavirus cases, along with flagging the potential sterilisation and reuse of the undersupplied masks.

Key points:

The Royal Adelaide Hospital is looking at ways to sterilise N95 masks for reuse

SA Salaried Medical Officers president Dr David Pope said it was not something that had been done before

He raised health staff concerns that it was not possible to properly sterilise the masks

It comes as global health authorities grapple with significant shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for doctors and nurses.

"We're looking at other ways, novel ways, ways that haven't been tried before worldwide … now, people are exploring the use of reprocessing these N95 masks, sterilising them so they're safe, so they can be used more than once."

Dr David Pope said the potential reuse of N95 masks is "rather concerning".(ABC News: Angelique Donnellan)

Mr Shaw said from today, SA Health would be collecting used N95 masks at the Royal Adelaide Hospital so they can look at ways the masks can be "safely reprocessed".

He suggested they might be sterilised by using a medical autoclave.

SA Salaried Medical Officers Association president and emergency specialist, Dr David Pope, described the plan as "rather concerning", as sterilising N95 masks had not been done before.

"This isn't something that's never been done before," he said.

"It's not usual practice to clean and reuse those masks. And so exactly how that is to be done … isn't clear to any of us, I don't think."

Health staff 'very, very concerned'

Dr Pope said for hospital staff, "it's rather concerning", and questions were being asked about whether the masks could be properly sterilised.

"It does show that our supplies of those particular masks are quite perilous," he said.

"I know there are people very, very concerned that the staff required to do the sterilisation again [would] be at high risk of exposure.

"Because the masks that are going to be reused are going to be contaminated with the virus.

"So the process to undertake cleaning and sterilisation is a pretty high-risk procedure."

Dr Pope said his understanding was the trial would only occur at the Royal Adelaide Hospital — where the majority of South Australian coronavirus patients are hospitalised — for now, but that it was likely other hospitals would follow suit.

"I understand the other hospitals are still using them [the N95 masks] as usual, but they're not going to be needing them in quite the quantities the Royal Adelaide Hospital is currently using them in.

"But I do expect that the instruction to reuse all of those, all our N95 masks, will come through very soon."

Woman allegedly steals 100 masks from regional hospital

It comes as a woman in South Australia has been charged by police after allegedly stealing 100 face masks from the Port Pirie Hospital in the state's mid North.

The masks had been provided to the public on a one-for-one basis.

The 46-year-old from Risdon Park was arrested on Thursday and charged with aggravated theft, she was bailed to appear in the Port Pirie Magistrates Court at a later date.

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